Bar-winged rail

The bar-winged rail (Hypotaenidia poeciloptera) is an extinct species of bird in the family Rallidae. It was endemic to Fiji and was last collected ca 1890 in Viti Levu. The species was identified from twelve 19th century specimens, some of which are known to be in Boston, London and New York. The last unconfirmed sighting of this bird was in 1973.^[2] The bar winged rail was declared extinct by the IUCN in 1994.^[1]

Bar-winged rail Temporal range: Late Pleistocene–Late Holocene PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Drawing from 1867
Conservation status
Extinct  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Gruiformes
Family:	Rallidae
Genus:	Hypotaenidia
Species:	†H. poeciloptera
Binomial name
†Hypotaenidia poeciloptera (Hartlaub, 1866)
Synonyms
Hypotaenidia poeciloptera Gallirallus poecilopterus

Fossil remains dating back to the late Pleistocene or early Holocene are known from some caves in Fiji.^[3]

Description

Egg

It was a flightless island ground-nesting forest/freshwater swamp dweller and is believed to have disappeared after the introduction of the mongoose and cats to the islands.